rizon72

http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/forum/t1207.gif Is there a topic to this thread?

Nope, last poster would then be me!

This thread has been hijacked! :pirate:

If one thinks about the size and scope of something like Ringworld, it is a wonder of construction and technology. There is a problem here with the engineering students. They are using our current abilities and understanding of technology. If you went back to the Roman Empire, and described a 100 story skyscraper to them, they would probably say the same thing. It would be impossible to build and keep upright without it crashing into the ground due to gravity. Just like we have overcome buildings falling down with technology, so to would a highly advanced civilization overcome the drifting problem.

Okay, I'm confused now. Kerry recently said this on MSNBC: "I guarantee you if we turn our backs today, the picture we all saw in the paper today and the media of those people being shot, that will take place more because more extremists will be attracted to this, because they will be funded as the only alternative in order to take on Assad." (About a photo that apparently was taken a year ago or so.) Now, if I read this right is he saying that he wishes to prevent extremists from joining the rebels, so we'll do a military strike on the government of Syria to make sure no more gas will be used. I'm not following how a strike will prevent extremists from joining the war (on either side).

I scratch my head over this one. I am not seeing the positive of a military strike. Perhaps someone might be able to explain it to me, cause I'm not seeing it. How will a military strike prevent these weapons from being used again? What is the mission? Short-term? Long-term?

Will our leaders ever learn that getting involved in another country's civil war is never a good thing

If we were contacted by aliens, I can't think of one politician or scientist who I would want speaking for us all.

I actually like Ancient Aliens, not for what most think, but they talk about sites you didn't learn about in history class. Like Derinkuyu and Gobekli Tepe. The first is a huge underground 'city' that could house some 20,000 people, plus supplies and livestock, the second is an 11,000 year old 'temple' (I use temple in a cautious sense as that it is only a theory). It seems like every time I look we are discovering something even more ancient and wonderful and mysterious. One fascinating theory, in regards to the Nazca lines, was we were visited by aliens, but they were at war with another alien power. Our planet was used as a base during the war, and once the war ended, the base was abandoned. A bit like military bases during WW2 in the pacific. An intriguing thought. A theory I always think about is that an alien race builds a gigantic ship to flee their homeplanet (its dying, something, but can't sustain life anymore), and set out into the universe. They travel slowly, going from system to system (not going faster than a sub-light speed). They replenish their supplies, talk to the locals, and move on never to come back.

I just confronted my cat with this - and she confirms it. :blush: Their plan is enslave humanity to serve them. Oh wait, that already happened. :ohmy:

Seems people forget when Obama did finally show his birth certificate the "birthers movement" claimed it to be fake continuing to claim Obama not to be a natural born United states citizen. It is denigrating in itself to me to even be accused as not being a citizen. Just imagine if someone came up to you demanding them to see your birth certificate. would you really go to the trouble to produce it for them? If you ask me I wouldn't because I know I am a citizen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada and still has to go through a procedure to denounce his citizenship to Canada which this procedure takes about 18 months and then is finally determined by the Canadian courts if he does indeed run for president. It's just very odd there is no outrage about Ted Cruz potentially running for president even if he did produce a copy of his birth certificate. After all even when Obama produced a copy the birthers still kept claiming it to be a fake. If Ted Cruz was a black man I believe there would be exponential scrutiny. If I was running for President, yes. It is the quickest way to defuse such questions. The fact is, Obama allowed it to linger for years! He allowed it to become a bigger issue than what it was. The reason why so many clamed it was 'fake', was due almost entirely to the amount of time Obama took to produce the BC. Again, I didn't care, don't lump me in with the 'birthers'. I merely said Obama shares the blame for it being an issue. BTW, Cruz has already produced his birth certificate. As for outrage, he hasn't even announced if he will run. He might run, and then it will become an issue. Until then its a hypothetical scenario. (Not getting into the race thing, far as I'm concerned, toss it out the window. It only serves to divide us, not unite us. United we stand, divided we fall.)

Or we are a lab experiment, they are trying to create intelligent life.

Never cared about this. Though I always thought Obama could have ended all that nonsense long ago by simply pulling out his birth certificate in 2008. Instead he allowed it to grow until it became an issue. IMO, Cruz has already nipped that conversation from liberals by showing his BC already.

I can't begin to explain why an alien race might study us, or their technique. If they are hundreds, thousands or even millions of years more advanced than us, than the question of why they do something could very well be beyond our scope of understanding.

Ironic you lecture me about an opinion as being "very much a problem" when reporting facts, when you yourself are making an "opinion" as your argument. But to get back to the topic.... The GOP has banned both CNN and NBC this weekend. Can't wait to see who the heck they nominate. Hope they ask tougher questions than just "this or that" questions. Maybe even tougher political questions than “Elvis or johnny cash"? :laugh: Don't hold your breath. Debates and such are just a political dog an pony show to get some 'face time' on the TV. Not like you learn anything about a candidates standing on issues, or anything of importance from them. Maybe the REAL reason they don't want to deal with these particular news organizations is because they didn't like the questions they wanted to ask..... :D The only thing you hear at a debate anymore, is the typical party line. Colour, a fact is easily skewed, do you not understand that? In the DHMO example, there is no opinion, all facts. Look it up. What is an opinion, is how I presented it, that's what so called reporters do today.

So true. Do you know this as a fact that the creator do not know the law that they wrote themselves or is this just another opinion? As far as my concern for those who have not read the law over(as lengthy as it is to read) or claim to not know the particulars of this law really shouldn't be in such protest over it. Might as well just simply state you just don't like the idea of social healthcare. Regardless if anyone likes it or not Obamacare isn't going away anytime soon and this is a "fact" not just an opinion. The simple fact is our congressmen and women do not write the bills, others who work for them do, and they don't read them either. This was told to me by an aide to Senator John Cornyn, who had read the Obamacare bill as his job for Cornyn. His words, its a bill that should never been passed. Just because it was passed, doesn't mean it will do good things. (I'm sure some said the same thing about the 18th Amendment as well.)

At that point, why not just take those affected by drugs, mentally infirm, or just young children since they wouldn't be able to explain what happened or necessarily remember. Or destitute and transitory persons who could be abducted and studied over long term without anyone even noticing. There are a great number of people who could be taken at any moment with minimal evidence, but instead it ends up being some random individual living in suburbia who then obsesses over their "visitation", and writes a book about their alien second husband and 3 half-breed children. Seems like an arse-backward methodology to me. If you are studying something, don't you want to study the healthy specimens? I also didn't say all were alien abductions, but if you disguise it how can we tell the difference between sleep paralysis and an abduction?

Not sure what media outlets you watch but actual news is reported on facts, just because a reporter injects opinions in their reporting doesn't discredit the facts or the reports they make. Without a human opinion in reporting we might as well just be reading raw data on spreadsheets. Colour, I watch MSNBC, CNN, BBC, FOX News, and my local stations, I also read the Houston Post (paper), NY Times (online), Indianapolis Post (online), Huffington Post, the Blaze, just to name a few. Its easy to skew a fact. An opinion is very much a problem. Here is an easy and quick example of what I mean, and one you can learn from. Everything I am going to tell you is fact, no lies. We should ban a dangerous chemical, DHMO, for the following reasons: - it is a major component of acid rain, which causes damage to buildings. - its gas form has been known to burn people, sometimes causing severe injury. - in its liquid form it kills thousands of people each year. - its found in baby formulas - a greenhouse gas Now I could continue with a dozen such 'facts'. But here is another truth about DHMO, its common name is water. Without it there could be no acid rain, people are burned by steam all the time, drowning is quite common, of course its found in baby fomulas, and it is a greenhouse gas. Just because a reporter is 'reporting facts' doesn't make them factual. Their opinion is very much a factor. That opinion, which you seem to want to ignore so easily, can be very dangerous if you don't question it.

If I was an advanced race, doing such abductions, I would do it so the locals could easily explain it away. So they use the explanation of 'sleep paralysis as a cover for their activities. As such, they know our 'scientists' will never look into it seriously. Its a perfect cover.

So true. I have yet to read anything that has made me change my mind that this bill is anything but a few good things wrapped in a bunch of bull****. And sadly, the ones who will be paying for it, the middle class, adding even more stress to this shrinking group.

To think that we are alone in all of the universe is arrogant of us, even in our galaxy. If we were to meet a race that is even a hundred years more advanced than us, the things they know would be tremendous. And if they were several thousand, their knowledge would make our smartest person appear as an idiot. Science has only scrapped the surface of the knowledge of the universe. Personally, I think there is life out there, including intelligent, and some of that life is much more advanced than us. If they have visited, and not made contact, then the reasoning isn't for us to question.

Ah yes, government math! I have said for decades, until I see the US debt start going down, all this talk of deficit is nonsense to me. Numbers that both sides use to manipulate their loyal lap dogs.

Having watched how the media portrays both sides for the past 30 years, I would love to fire all the reporters and cancel every news station, then make them start over by going back to school to learn how to report facts, and not opinions like they do now.

Neither party is for the average middle class working American. Both cater to big business and special interest groups. As for Obamacare, a few good things wrapped up in one huge, poorly written bill that should have been burned. It will be the democrats biggest albatross. Seems like the more government gets involved, the worse things get. To borrow a phrase, Obamacare could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Ironically is was this bill which made me lose faith in both liberals and the democratic party. Its a bad bill that doesn't fix the problem. In fact, just this month I was informed by my doctor (who I have had for ten years) is retiring so he doesn't have to deal with this mess anymore. Go ahead, blame the GOP and the TEA party, but the simple fact is, democrats wrote it, passed it, signed it into law, and it's not a great bill. They could have achieved something great, and instead gave us this pile of ****.

The problem I have with everything in the OP, is it works for smaller, simple things. The more complex the debate, the less you find a single truth supporting just one side. For example, five years ago when there was the huge debate about what to do with the economy (in the USA). There were many different sides, each with supporting 'facts' and other 'facts' to disprove someone else's solution. Unfortunately this is how most debates are. I see it as, the larger and more complex a debate becomes, the more grey the truth becomes. Add in personal experiences and things become even more muddled.